Wf: W$W;lHdtii:':. .,' -f"""i""I:':' .. . ,:1 :....$:.i ;; l . . :.:...: ..:. ... . . : . .' w .:.......:.-...: y ..-.. y -,- .' .... . . .. . ",' ,... . ft. :11. : . '.:" : .. .'::. *, m' ?; . 'M (. :,1 ; J ::'; . ;w :",y : E (); .s:-:').. ::- "OJú >> . ;: . '''.h ; : I ;ID': '0, .: ..", "I ,.... ,:j: ::_' <6j: ': "<:1 : .;.! ::.+ . .;. i::1. .1 -.c, -.;:. . . . : ! ..,: .::: ) <,) ..n == :: . '5' :::.::æ I ill '$ m I E till $1 r ; ; W '. Winter 2002 Repertory Season January 2 through February 24 For information call (212) 870-5570 www.nycballet.com NEW YORK STATE THEATER AT LINCOLN CENTER, 63RD S1 AND COLUMBUS AVE. Saskia Beskow at Mill Lane, photographed by Rosanne Olson @2001. :fWhimsitiJ1Creatures "-:,"-. "-...- . ... .,:::. .;;::.-..;..- '. . ;i,:: If1 ,::{, ;.; ..:=:-;. tb ::{).f" ."I # . t ... ... ".,,,"" .It:: .' \t ß :.w . _ :"<>:':F4 ; ;:;:i;::::;:: :(': .:qiamonQs:.:. ";;;....Ji9 ;:: âØ::' .. ,....,...... " 2 ?9 t.::. Ig ; J ,;::"4j f..t.;;.;; "/r7. I ' ,r i .J """1& ':::.!WÍi i:g ;l3aroqtJè:' . - ; 1 't 4' . (, fJ \:: ó ll '1@11 ; '{;r", k::: (;:.:-::.: :.: "': :. .j di . m; (.i: t :.- .. - - -. ....... . ".". n. on _.._ . ." .... . ........ ..._. ....... ".".. . ì i..,. f.-#": SHOWN AÇTQAL ,SIZE' FIRESTONE AND PARSON No.8 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617) 266-1858 36 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 28, 2002 ANNAL5 OF NATIONAL 5ECURITY THE GETAWAY Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift. BY 5EYMOUR M. HER5H #. ' .;:.:....... ;==.: I n Afghanistan last November, the Northern Alliance, supported by American Special Forces troops and em- boldened by the higWy accurate Ameri- can bombing, forced thousands of Tal- iban and Al eda fighters to retreat inside the northern hill town of Kunduz. Trapped with them were Pakistani Army officers, intelligence advisers, and vol- unteers who were fighting alongside the Taliban. (Pakistan had been the Taliban's staunchest military and economic sup- porter in its long-running war against the Northern Alliance.) Many of the fighters had fled earlier defeats at Mazar- i-Shar to the west; Taloqan, to the east; and Pul-i-Khumri, to the south. The road to Kabul, a potential point of re- treat, was blocked and was targeted by American bombers. Kunduz offered safety from the bombs and a chance to negotiate painless surrender terms, as Mghan tribes often do. Surrender negotiations began imme- diately, but the Bush Administration heatedly-and successfully-opposed them. On November 25th, the North- ern Alliance took Kunduz, capturing some four thousand of the Taliban and Al eda fighters. The next da Presi- dent Bush said, "We're smoking them out. They're running, and now we're going to bring them to justice." Even before the siege ended, how- ever, a puzzling series of reports ap- peared in the Times and in other pub- lications, quoting Northern Alliance officials who claimed that Pakistani air- planes had flown into Kunduz to evacu- ate the Pakistanis there. American and Pakistani officials refused to confirm the reports. On November 16th, when jour- nalists asked Secretary of Defense Don- ald Rumsfeld about the reports of rescue aircraft, he was dismissive. "Well, if we see them, we shoot them down," he said. Five days later, Rumsfeld declared, ' y idea that those people should be let loose on any basis at all to leave that country w;: and to go bring terror to other countries and destabilize other countries is unac- ceptable." At a Pentagon news confer- ence on Monday, November 26th, the day after Kunduz fell, General RIch- ard B. Myers, of the Air Force, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of St was asked about the reports. The Gen- eral did not directly answer the question but stated, "The runway there is not us- able. I mean, there are segments of it that are usable. They're too short for your standard transport aircraft. So we're not sure where the reports are coming f " rom. Pakistani officials also debunked the rescue reports, and continued to insist, as they had throughout the Mghanistan war, that no Pakistani military person- nel were in the country. Anwar Meh- mood, the government spokesman, told newsmen at the time that reports of a Pakistani airlift were "total rubbish. Hogwash." In interviews, however, American in- telligence officials and high -ranking military officers said that Pakistanis were indeed flown to safet}; in a series of nighttime airlifts that were approved by the Bush Administration. The Ameri- cans also said that what was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of control, and, as an unin- tended consequence, an unknown num- ber of Taliban and Al eda fighters managed to join in the exodus. "Dirt got through the screen," a senior intelli- gence official told me. Last week, Secre- tary of Defense Rumsfeld did not re- spond to a request for comment. P akistan's leader, General Pervez Musharr who seized power in a 1999 coup, had risked his standing with the religious fundamentalists-and per- haps his life-by endorsing the Amer- ican attack on Afghanistan and the American support of the Northern Al- liance. At the time of Kunduz, his deci-